Archive: 2017 General Assembly

The most recent response from Gov. Roy Cooper to legislative leaders about a questionable $57.8 million funding arrangement with the operators of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline might lead to formal demands for information from the Cooper administration. A release issued Tuesday, Feb. 20, from Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, and…

Constitutional questions persist about the murky $57.8 million deal between Atlantic Coast Pipeline operators and Gov. Roy Cooper. “Laws are presumed to be constitutional,” Gerry Cohen, former general counsel for the General Assembly, told Carolina Journal on Thursday, Feb. 15. “So this…

Gov. Roy Cooper insisted $57.8 million from energy companies building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline was a voluntary contribution, but said at a news conference he doesn’t know whose idea it was originally to seek the money he planned to distribute. During a 20-minute meeting with reporters…

The Civitas Institute has filed a state ethics complaint against Gov. Roy Cooper, seeking a ruling and possible investigation into questions of his handling of $57.8 million from a utility coalition building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. “Not only is there a…

The House passed House Bill 90 on Tuesday, Feb. 13, commandeering a controversial $58 million discretionary fund Gov. Roy Cooper created with developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and redirecting the money to education. Republicans praised the legislation because it incorporates…

Former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, urged the General Assembly not to spend any money from a fund negotiated by his Democratic successor, Roy Cooper, and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline operators, saying the process for securing the money was tainted. In a phone interview the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 13,…

The continuing battle over separation of powers between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the Republican-led General Assembly played out simultaneously in two venues Friday morning. At the Legislative Building, the Senate debated and passed House Bill 90, a measure among other…

Senate Republicans suggested the state could approach a constitutional crisis if it enables a governor to control money outside the normal budgetary process. Some suggested Democrats’ loyalty to Gov. Roy Cooper surpassed their commitment to public education, if not the constitution itself. Senators spent…

Lee Lilley did little to assuage Republicans’ concerns over a $57.8 million “voluntary” payment to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office from companies building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Lawmakers doggedly questioned Lilley, who Cooper hired as his director of legislative affairs less than a week ago,…